Master Orochimaru is going to poison us?!

"Obito, are you okay?!" Minato used the Body Flicker Technique to appear at Obito's side, his concern focused on the One-Tomoe Sharingan now spinning in the boy's eyes.

Beneath Obito's feet lay a pile of shredded paper—the remains of a book he had torn to pieces in a fit of rage just moments ago.

He had just purchased an annual membership at Zhengyi's Gym, hadn't he?

Obito felt like he was taking a massive loss; he was heading to the battlefield, so how many days of his membership would be wasted? Wasn't this just letting Zhengyi make money for nothing?

Consequently, after his final visit to Zhengyi's Gym, he had swiped a book off the front desk.

The contents of that book!

Bastard! Ahhh!! Bastard!!!

It told the story of the Uchiha clan head's true son, who was swapped by a nanny at birth. The nanny's son took the true heir's place, and as they grew up, the fake heir couldn't awaken his Sharingan, while the nanny's son—the true heir—awakened a One-Tomoe Sharingan under the weight of constant abuse.

Only then did the clan head realize the children had been swapped, so he privately brought the true heir back.

Why privately? Because the clan head and his wife had developed deep feelings for the fake heir and feared he would be bullied at the Ninja Academy if his identity were exposed.

The subsequent plot was as infuriating as it could possibly get!

The fake heir bullied the true heir in every way imaginable.

The clan head and his wife were completely biased toward the fake heir, and even the true heir's fiancée sided with the fake heir.

In the end... the fake heir developed a heart condition, and the only suitable donor was the true heir. The Uchiha clan head, that animal, used his Sharingan to control the true heir and sacrificed him.

Obito had expected some kind of twist.

But no... in the grand finale, the fake heir married the fiancée while carrying out the true heir's "dying wish," and the family lived happily ever after, even naming their child after the true heir to commemorate him.

???

By that point, Obito hadn't awakened his eyes yet. He had just caught a glimpse of the second volume: a handsome transfer student arrived at the Ninja Academy, and his childhood sweetheart fell hopelessly in love with him.

In the finale, the handsome student and the protagonist were kidnapped by thugs. The kidnappers, perhaps suffering from brain damage, forced the childhood sweetheart to choose between them—only one could live.

The sweetheart chose to save the handsome student.

The protagonist chose to commit suicide to fulfill their happiness.

This damn sense of immersion!!

And just like that, the One-Tomoe Sharingan appeared.

Hearing the reason behind Obito's eye awakening, Minato, Kakashi, and Rin were at a loss for words.

Just because of a book?

"Don't you dare question me! Damn it, if I hadn't torn it up just now, I would've shown it to you, Sensei. Sensei, you tell me—if Kushina-nee fell in love with someone else while she was in school, what would you do?" Obito, annoyed by Kakashi's disdainful gaze, didn't even feel happy about awakening his Sharingan and hurriedly defended himself.

"Hiss." Minato tried to put himself in that situation. If Kushina fell for someone else? He might as well be dead.

"Kakashi, Obito actually has a point," Minato said with an awkward laugh, fully agreeing with Obito.

"Boring emotions. Aside from causing us to lose ourselves and our money, they don't gain us anything." Whenever Kakashi spoke during this period, he could infuriate anyone who heard him.

Orochimaru agreed wholeheartedly with Kakashi's sentiment; emotions were the most boring things in the world.

As for this book of Obito's, he had read it.

It was quite interesting, actually—it was precisely this book that had spurred his current decision.

And the author of said book was currently mourning his masterpiece. He had spent an entire night of hard work writing it! He had only shown it to Orochimaru-sensei, and now it was gone?

Zhengyi felt just as shattered as the book.

For Rin to survive, he had no choice but to use such underhanded tactics.

The Konoha high command had made a decision that defied logic: they were sending the Uchiha clan, who excelled in Fire Style, to the front lines of Kirigakure to battle the Water Style-wielding Mist ninja.

In theory, as long as the Uchiha's firepower was fierce enough, Kirigakure would never have the chance to kidnap Rin.

The question was, how to make the Uchiha increase their firepower quickly?

The answer: awaken their eyes.

Thus, this book came into existence.

The results were excellent; Obito awakened his eyes immediately after reading it.

Zhengyi felt his understanding of the Uchiha was now on par with the Second Hokage's.

Uchiha eye-awakening was nothing more than a matter of psychological stimulation; the more unstable a person's mindset, the higher the probability of them awakening the Sharingan.

The stories in this book—about true and fake heirs, and childhood sweethearts losing out to a sudden arrival—were clearly not comprehensive enough.

Therefore, Zhengyi still had a pile of stories he would write when he had the time.

Targeting those with brother complexes, those obsessed with pure love, those focused on filial piety... he had every kind of tragic story from his past life.

As for the Uchiha rebelling once they became powerful?

His teacher's Impure World Reincarnation had a few things to say about that.

For the next few days, the atmosphere in the team was incredibly bizarre.

When they arrived at the Iwagakure front line, Jiraiya, who was stationed there, was stunned. Why had Orochimaru and Minato traveled together?

Inside the command tent.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru hadn't seen each other in a long time, so they decided to share a meal. Halfway through:

"Orochimaru, if you ever dare to do anything that harms Konoha, I will..." Jiraiya set aside his usual slacker demeanor, his face showing a seriousness never seen before.

"And what would you do?" Orochimaru sneered.

"Well, just kidding. How could you ever do anything to harm Konoha?" Jiraiya laughed heartily. "Let's not talk about that. Eat, eat!"

"That's not necessarily true. What if I wanted to do it right now?"

Jiraiya frowned, and Orochimaru frowned as well.

"Heh, you really know how to tell cold jokes, Orochimaru. You're still the same as you were when we were kids, oh my."

"It seems that way, doesn't it? Jiraiya."

A short while later, the two looked at each other and both laughed.

That night, Jiraiya summoned Minato. "Orochimaru is targeting you. You need to be careful lately; check everything you eat or use thoroughly."

"Yes!" Minato possessed an active skill called Listen to Advice.

Meanwhile.

Orochimaru summoned Zhengyi and took a tub of Protein Powder from his summoning scroll, instructing him to deliver it to Minato.

Orochimaru giving Protein Powder to Minato?

How is this any different from a weasel wishing a chicken a Happy New Year?!

Then, there could only be one truth.

Is there poison in it?! Zhengyi's heart leaped into his throat, thumping wildly.

Poisoning the protagonist's father directly—who wouldn't be nervous about that?

He wasn't nervous out of fear, but out of excitement. If Minato were poisoned to death, there would be no Chronicles of Naruto in the future, only the Chronicles of Orochimaru and the Chronicles of Zhengyi.

With his most favored successor dead, Hiruzen Sarutobi would surely be heartbroken, and the position of Hokage would naturally go to Orochimaru.

Teacher, you've finally seen the light.

Orochimaru never lied. He had even dared to expose his intentions to Jiraiya during dinner earlier. He nodded candidly; there was indeed poison in the Protein Powder.

"Hiss!" Seeing Orochimaru admit it, Zhengyi paced back and forth in the tent, clutching the tub of Protein Powder, his face thoughtful.

After a long while, he spoke:

"Teacher, I think we should do it this way."

Give the Protein Powder to Obito and have him invite Minato to drink it; that would suffice.

Obito would be faking his death soon anyway.

If Minato died and Obito went missing, the incident would simply become a great cold case for Konoha. Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi suspected they had poisoned him, would he have any evidence?

Even if Obito were found later, by then, the dust would have settled, the teacher would already be Hokage, and the truth would no longer matter.

As for whether Obito would drink it.

A while back, Kakashi had bought Protein Powder from him at an exorbitant price, and Obito had been stealing it from Kakashi every day, thinking that every time he drank it, he was making Kakashi drink less and become weaker!

Therefore, Obito shouldn't be greedy enough to drink this tub of Protein Powder himself.